326 COMMON REPTILES OF AN INDIAN GARDEN 



then, however, he managed to break loose and 

 escape over the top of a long terrace-roof that 

 was reached by a short flight of steps descending 

 from the verandah. The process of recapture was 

 attended by the wildest excitement and appre- 

 hension. The fugitive was pursued by a mob of 

 men, armed with thick sticks and horse-blankets 

 from the stables, and all in a state of the greatest 

 dread of the deadly tongue and formidable tail. 

 Matters reached a climax when he was cornered 

 and eventually secured under the blankets, hissing 

 aloud, snapping his jaws, and " swindging the scaly 

 Horrour of his folded tail." His appetite was truly 

 astonishing, and he seemed to be always ready to 

 do away with fifteen large toads at a single meal. 

 Dogs are usually eager to hunt them, but exercise a 

 wise caution in coming to close quarters with them. 

 They usually keep to the ground, but, when in 

 quest of eggs or birds, they sometimes climb to a 

 considerable height among tangled masses of shrubs 

 and creepers. 



Crocodiles now and then make their appearance 

 in gardens lying near the river or other permanent 

 water-courses and swamps. The species usually met 

 with about Calcutta is Crocodilus porosus, which 

 is so common in the tidal channels of the Sun- 

 darbans, and of which it may certainly be said that 

 it is not quite so repulsively hideous as C. palustris. 

 When crocodiles have once taken possession of a 



